Do As I Say, Not As I Do

My 11 year old asked what this word meant the other day. I found it easier to give examples from life rather than the Merriam-Webster version.

Hypocrisy, son, is someone cursing a blue streak and then telling you not to swear.

Hypocrisy is me telling you that you can’t have a piece of your Halloween candy while I take all your M&M’s when you’re not looking. (I plead the 5th on that one)

Hypocrisy is yelling about pollution of the ‘aina while driving a car and smoking a cigarette.

Today, I found a new example to give my young scholar.

Lorrin Pang, Maui County Health Officer, has been delinquent in turning over his financial disclosure statement for 2015. I’ll be the first to admit that these laws seem a bit invasive, but they ARE the law. Mr. Pang is refusing to comply by not turning over details about his income, ownership of businesses, creditors, property, clients, and any outside boards or companies he serves on. It makes one wonder if he has something to hide.

Now why should we even care about this little lapse in ethics? Perhaps because Lorrin Pang has made “disclosure” his battle cry this past year. I can’t tell you how many times I sat in Maui council chambers during testimony about the GMO moratorium and heard Lorrin Pang testify about disclosure and transparency from the seed companies on our islands. Here’s a little sampling from his summary statement last year at one of these hearings:

Pang and the other “5 Citizens” causing all this ruckus on Maui asked for disclosure of pesticides. Even the Mayor asked for disclosure. How did Monsanto respond? They disclosed. Right away. They even went above and beyond with reports back to 2012. We now have 3 years of ‘disclosure’ on the books. What did we find? About 12 oz. of active ingredient/acre/year of any given pesticide being used. A Coke can, my friends! And how does their pesticide use compare to amounts used around the state?

Less than 1%

This past June, it was Lorrin Pang’s turn to disclose his financials. He has chosen NOT to comply. His fine for unethical behavior is a whopping $300 to date. A tiny slap on the wrist. I find this reprehensible considering what he put the seed industry through this past year. Where is the battle cry from the activists? Disclosure, Mr. Pang! Are you avoiding this because once you disclose, we might ask for a moratorium on your job?

He is really off the deep end. I have a list of quotes from him including such gems as, “I heard through the grapevine that somebody forgot to turn off their chemtrail emitter and landed. Talk about the smoking gun.” He also explains why we don’t have evidence of chemtrails with, “If they catch wind of you monitoring them, they spray with seawater”. He’s convinced his phone is tapped. I’m amazed he holds his position in the county. Thanks for the video link!